Food Forward

New Year, New Food

If you love the

Bang Bite Filling Station

food truck, which is now located in the Luna retail complex at 505 Cerrillos Road next to Ohori’s Coffee, then you’re going to love what its chef, Enrique Guerrero, has cookin’ for the New Year. Now open only for lunch and dinner from 11 am to 9 pm Wednesday through Saturday, Guerrero says he plans to expand the hours in 2016. And that’s not all.

"I think by next year we'll be open seven days a week for breakfast, lunch and dinner," Guerrero says. "We are kind of merging with New Mexico Hard Cider, and we also have plans for a great New Year's Eve party [see SFR Picks, page 33]. For next year, I am working on a great project that will make lots of Santa Feans very happy, and no, it's not in the bowling alley space in the Santa Fe Railyard." That's all chef Guerrero, who said goodbye to that Railyard mess months ago, would divulge about the project for now, but he added that he has plans to open two more food trucks, one in Santa Fe and one in Albuquerque.

Over at

Joseph's of Santa Fe

(428 Agua Fría St., 982-1272),

chef Joseph Wrede plans on doing more daily menu changes, keeping things even fresher than they already are. General manager Starr Bowers says that in the new year, Wrede will be vigorously working on a cookbook project. “Joseph is working on developing a cookbook on sheep!” she says. “Lamb vs. wool, the history of sheep in New Mexico, creative sheep and mutton cookery and exploring the concept of sheep being associated with being docile or weak, when in fact their meat is bold and distinct.”

Other changes are coming to the culinary pub, some small, some huge. Besides aiming to ditch the bone-white china and move to an eclectic selection of food-safe ceramics to present the chef's food, Bowers says the restaurant is completely changing the direction of the wine list, "going from the standard fine-dining format with lots of name-recognition wines, to a more streamlined and esoteric selection." The hope is that the staff can lead guests to new wines they have never heard of and help pair them with the food, opening up a more meaningful conversation about the relationship between food and wine.

Looking even further ahead, Wrede hopes to open a food truck in 2017 in Sanbusco Center, which will become the new home of the New Mexico School for the Arts (his daughter is a student there). It's also very close to Joseph's of Santa Fe, so hot meals for students could theoretically keep on comin' with a little help from the brick-and-mortar business. The truck would also be used for catering parties and other events in Santa Fe, and perhaps beyond.

2016 marks the 25th anniversary of the Rosewood Inn of the Anasazi (113 Washington Ave., 988-3030), and although all the details haven't been nailed down, look for celebrations throughout the year in the restaurant, bar and other spots on the property. But there is even more (to me) exciting news: In the New Year, the Anasazi teams up with Santa Fe Spirits distillery (7505 Mallard Way, 467-8892) to create a line of Colkegan Single Malt Whiskey (the owner's name is Colin Keegan) that is specific to the Anasazi property. A new cocktail menu that is already in place for the New Year sports the Santa Fe 66, a drink that includes Santa Fe Spirits apple brandy, Gruet sparkling wine and lemon.

Destination bottles are a growing trend, but this one seems like a good fit for a restaurant that opened a dedicated "tequila table" earlier in 2015. The table is a blast for gastronomes and tequila snobs alike: a place to taste premium tequilas, enjoy unique tequila-and-food pairings that are put together by chef Juan Bochenski and take a cooking class led by the chef himself. I can't wait to see what he and the bar staff do with the Anasazi Colkegan whiskey.

Trendy-Schmendy

Condé Nast Traveler thinks ramen bowls and Uber's new quick restaurant-delivery app released on Dec. 16 are going to blow up in 2016. I call bullshit, locally speaking. The ramen trend is already tired, in my opinion, and Uber is mired in so many lawsuits and regulatory lockouts in some cities that bringing food into the 505 mix seems like a bad move. While some restaurants around the country are experiencing a marked increase in delivery sales through apps like Uber's, I predict that Santa Fe's culinary landscape won't be too quick to catch on.

Technomic, a food-industry research and consulting firm, predicts that "trash fish," or lesser-known types of fish, will be used more in restaurants in the name of sustainability. Unless the practice is toughly regulated and embraced by Santa Fe chefs and New Mexico food distributors, I predict that you won't see much Asian carp on your plate here next year.

Have a safe and happy New Year, and remember, if it needs to be known, it needs to be shared. Hook us up with the goods on events and other food bits at thefork@sfreporter.com

Santa Fe Reporter